Chapter 88

Chapter 88

“Yaaawn!”

Zeon stretched as he woke, then discovered something and frowned.

His gaze turned toward Briel.

Perhaps she had stayed up all night, because Briel’s eyes were bloodshot red.

With those bloodshot eyes, she was glaring at a silver pot.

An unidentified liquid was bubbling inside the silver pot.

“Just a little, just a little more......”

Briel clenched her two small fists and muttered.

A deep madness could be felt from her appearance.

Zeon shook his head.

“Looks like you stayed up all night again.”

Briel was nocturnal.

During the day, she was hazy and dazed, but once night came, her mind woke up clearly.

That was when her research began.

The desire for inquiry that had been suppressed while she was trapped underground was released madly.

It was as if she gathered energy during the day, then exploded it at night.

Even now, she was staring at the liquid she had made all night with eyes full of madness.

“It’s almost done. Just a little more......”

BOOM—!

At that instant, the liquid inside the pot exploded.

“Kyaaak!”

Briel was drenched in the liquid.

The liquid splashed not only onto Briel, but all over the house.

Looking around the house, which had turned into a mess, Zeon clicked his tongue.

“Tch!”

“Where did it go wrong? The formula was definitely perfect......”

Briel muttered with a devastated expression.

Zeon said to her,

“Clean it up properly.”

“Ugh! Why did it fail? Where did it go wrong?”

“Whew!”

It seemed Zeon’s voice did not reach Briel’s ears.

She tried to analyze the reason for the failure by dipping a finger into the liquid clinging to her body and tasting it.

“Uaaah! What the hell is the problem?”

Leaving Briel, who was going berserk, behind, Zeon left the house.

He knew that once Briel had a fit, she would not be in her right mind for at least three or four hours.

Once she came back to her senses, she would clean up the house on her own.

Until then, it was better to spend time outside.

Zeon walked down the street with both hands in his pockets.

“Hm?”

A strange light appeared in Zeon’s eyes.

That was because he saw a shabby street stall he had not seen until yesterday.

It was a stall selling skewers, and the smell drifting from it was extremely tempting.

There were other customers at the stall besides Zeon.

Most of the customers, however, were men.

Zeon quickly realized the reason.

The owner of the stall was a woman.

And a fairly pretty one at that.

She was not flashy, but she had a modest beauty.

That alone was enough to draw the attention of the men in the slums.

“You’re a face I haven’t seen before.”

“Where do you live?”

The men each had a skewer in their mouths as they threw questions at the woman.

All their questions were related to the woman’s personal life.

Even after the world had become like this, men’s desire toward a pretty woman remained the same.

The men’s flirting could have felt burdensome, but the woman answered calmly without even blinking.

“I live in Shinchon, of course. But this is my first time doing business, so I probably look unfamiliar.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course.”

“When does business end? Can’t you close a little early? I know a good place, so let’s go together.”

“Ho-ho! I appreciate the thought. But I have to stay open late if I want to make a living.”

“How much do you make in a day? I’ll pay it all.”

“Oh my! Really?”

“Of course!”

“Ho-ho! I appreciate the thought. How dependable you are.”

“Hehe!”

The woman knew how to handle men.

At her compliments and sweet talk, the men’s expressions loosened.

Zeon pushed his way among them.

“How much is one skewer?”

“Oh my! What a handsome oppa. Ten skewers for one sol.”

“One sol?”

“This is cultured meat made in Neo Seoul. The taste itself is different from other monster meats.”

“Is that so?”

When Zeon showed interest, the woman placed a skewer in his hand.

“Try one. Once you taste it, you won’t be able to eat any other meat again.”

Zeon nodded and bit into a skewer.

Just as the woman had boasted, the skewer was very tasty.

With a flavor like this, it was worth bragging about.

It was difficult to find someone with this level of skill in the slums.

Zeon took another bite of the skewer.

It was still delicious on the second chew.

The woman smiled and asked,

“It’s good, right?”

“It is good.”

“Right? I knew it would be. Handsome oppa!”

“I think you’re much older than me.”

“Ho-ho! If you’re handsome, you’re oppa. You really are handsome.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you live here too, oppa?”

“Yes!”

“Where?”

“The Ant Nest.”

“Oh my! You live in a rough place. Aren’t you scared?”

“Not really!”

At the woman’s fuss, Zeon answered calmly.

“But the clothes our oppa is wearing don’t look ordinary. Is that an item?”

“It’s nothing special.”

“Why is it nothing special? It has such a glossy sheen.”

The woman naturally reached out and stroked Zeon’s robe.

At that instant, a faint light flowed from her hand. But no one noticed that fact.

Her action was so natural that anyone watching might have mistaken them for lovers.

Right away, jealousy appeared on the faces of the male customers who had come to the stall first.

“What the hell? Why are you being so nice to that bastard?”

“Are you discriminating based on looks?”

Even at the men’s outburst, the woman said without the slightest change in expression,

“Everyone, quiet. Who said I was discriminating?”

“Huh?”

“Wasn’t she?”

The men’s expressions suddenly went blank.

They had accepted the woman’s words as if bewitched.

It was a very strange sight.

Anyone who saw it would have had no choice but to find it strange.

Even so, among the men around the stall, not a single one realized that fact.

The woman smiled brightly and looked at Zeon.

“Now we can talk quietly. Right?”

“You use an interesting Skill. A Skill that manipulates the mind, huh?”

“Oh my? You’ve got sharp eyes too, oppa. I’m liking you more and more.”

The woman clapped her hands and laughed.

She truly looked as though she was enjoying herself so much she could not stand it.

In contrast, Zeon still had an expression that said nothing was wrong.

That was because he had already realized that the woman was not ordinary.

The reason there were no female street vendors on this street was because this world was that rough.

The slums were a lawless zone where, if a woman was even a little decent-looking, it would not be strange for her to be kidnapped or raped.

In the current age, that was about how much a woman was worth.

Unless she had awakened or had powerful backing, she had to be careful even about roaming outside.

But a woman pretty enough for anyone to notice suddenly set up a street stall? And out of nowhere one day?

It was absolutely not a normal situation.

Zeon asked,

“Did you come targeting me?”

“I didn’t target you. I just wanted to meet you naturally?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“The two are definitely different. Even the nuance is different.”

“You talk in a very amusing way.”

“Is it amusing? Then that’s a relief.”

“What’s the reason you approached me in such a difficult way?”

“Because I like you.”

The woman answered without a moment of hesitation.

But Zeon was not pure enough to immediately believe the words of a woman he had just met.

“Did someone order you to come?”

“I told you, I came because I really like you.”

The woman smiled.

Then she looked even more beautiful.

It was as if a halo were shining behind her head.

“Tch!”

Zeon clicked his tongue and set down the skewer he had been holding.

“Why? Is the skewer not good?”

“You keep using brainwashing Skills on me, so I suddenly lost my appetite.”

At Zeon’s words, the smile that had filled the woman’s face vanished completely. But soon she put on a calm expression as if nothing had happened.

“When did I use a brainwashing Skill?”

“Where is it? Did Dongdaemun send you?”

“......”

“Looks like I’m right.”

“You’re such an unlucky oppa. Why are you so sharp when you’re handsome? And why is your mental barrier so solid?”

Now the woman could no longer deny it.

The woman’s name was Kim Jae-kyung.

She was Johan’s close aide.

Her specialty was mental-type Skills like brainwashing.

After breaking down the other party’s wariness with her modest appearance, she would touch them and use her Skill. Ten out of ten people would develop a favorable impression of her.

After that, if she continued to use her Skill, they would finally become completely subordinate to her.

Until now, she had turned countless people to her side through this method.

Especially with men, it worked without fail.

Naturally, Kim Jae-kyung had thought it would be the same this time.

To her, brainwashing a young brat like Zeon was no task at all.

But her brainwashing Skill did not work on Zeon.

His mental barrier was clearly far stronger than she had expected.

“Our oppa was a far more impressive person than I thought.”

“Was it Johan’s order?”

“Lord.”

“Pardon?”

“Add ‘Lord.’ He is not someone a person like you can dare call so casually.”

The moment Johan’s name was mentioned, Kim Jae-kyung’s gaze changed.

There was even madness in her eyes.

Zeon grumbled inwardly.

‘Tch! Just a little while ago, Briel had those eyes, and now another woman is radiating madness.’

Though he thought he had terrible luck from the morning onward, Zeon’s expression did not change at all.

“Fine. Lord Jo-han. Did that person send you?”

“That’s right! He told me to try persuading you with good words.”

“Is brainwashing someone considered good words?”

“Of course! Do you know how happy it is to be brainwashed by a beautiful woman like me?”

“I know quite a few women prettier than you.”

“What?”

“By my standards, you’re not all that pretty.”

“Grr!”

“So please understand your place.”

“Fuck! I tried to use nice words. Submit!”

At that instant, with a loud shout, a powerful light radiated from her entire body.

The Grade C Skill, Subordination.

It consumed a tremendous amount of mana, but its effect was just as certain.

Kim Jae-kyung had injected her mana while stroking Zeon’s entire body a couple of times.

She had already done the preliminary work.

That was why she was certain her Skill would work.

That was when it happened.

“Hmph!”

Zeon’s nasal snort was heard.

At the same time, a great impact struck her brain, as if she had been hit with a hammer.

BOOM—!

“Aaagh!”

Kim Jae-kyung screamed and collapsed.

Red blood was flowing from her nose and ears.

Zeon looked at Kim Jae-kyung and said,

“Tch! You should use mental-type Skills after checking who your opponent is. Don’t you know that if you use them carelessly, you’ll be the one who gets hurt instead?”

“What, what did you do?”

“As you can see, I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s......”

Kim Jae-kyung looked disbelieving.

Until now, there had not been a single person her Skill had failed to affect.

No, there had been exactly one.

It was Johan, the man she considered a god.

Johan’s mental barrier was too high and solid, so her Skill did not work on him.

‘Don’t tell me this man’s mind is as firm as Lord Johan’s?’